Method of forming a ruffle or the like

ABSTRACT

A device for making ruffles, tufts, pompons or the like from such materials as cloth net, crepe paper, or tissue. The device has means adapted to be grasped by hand, means for supporting said material on which the material may be gathered, and means for temporarily retaining a fastening means. The device is adapted to be used in a method including the steps of placing the material over the supporting means of the device, gathering together the material thereon, passing the device through the gathered material until the fastening means extends through the material, and manipulating the fastening means so that the gathered material is held in its gathered condition and may be formed into the desired ruffle or the like.

O United States Patent [151 3,674,187

Cotugno 1 July 4, 1972 54] METHOD OF FORMING A RUFFLE 0R 2,849,821911953 Doig ..223/46 x THE LIKE 3,429,019 2/1969 Linstead ....223/46 X3,539,431 11/1970 Schmidt et al. ..223/46 X [72] Inventor: DoloresCotugno, 3305 N. Rldgeway Ave.,

Chicago, 111. 60618 FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS [22] Filed: Dec. 11,1969 838,371 6/1960 Great Britain ..223/46 [21] APpl'No': 884273 PrimaryExaminer-Charlie T. Moon AttorneyPendleton, Neuman, Williams & Anderson[52] [1.8. CI ..223/46, 29/428, 29/505,

28/2, 223/102, 300/21 [57] ABSTRACT 51 I t. Cl. ..A4Ih 43 00 issi Fieldof Search ..29 428, 433, 241,5i15; A devce makmg mes, tufts 9 1 12/132223/46 two/2r 28/2 72 such matenals as cloth net, crepe paper, ortlssue. The device has means adapted to be grasped by hand, means forsupporting said material on which the material may be gathered, and [56]References Cited means for temporarily retaining a fastening means. Thedevice UNITED STATES PATENTS is adapted to be used in a method includingthe steps of plac- 1ng the matenal over the supportmg means of thedevice, 1,793,768 2/1931 Anderson ..300/21 gathering together thematerial thereon, passing the device 2,104,196 1/1938 Harmon 5 300/21through the gathered material until the fastening means ex- 3 6/1944"300/21 X tends through the material, and manipulating the fasteningMltchfl" means so that the gathered material is in its gathered con. 1;;i kifl dition and may be formed into the desired ruffle or the like. 1ay 2,845,736 8/1958 Crawford ..223/46 UX 2 Claims, 10 Drawing FiguresBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to tools and methodsfor gathering together or ruffling flexible material such as cloth net,gauze, or paper and forming therefrom ruffles, pompons, or tufts.

Many decorations, toys, and novelty items are made with ruffled ortufted nylon net, crepe paper, tissue, or other handicraft materials.These items are frequently made by handicrafters, working at home, inschool classes, clubs, or other organizations. In the past, it has beendifficult for the handicrafter to form the ruffles, tufts, or pomponsused in these items.

The conventional method has been to take an elongate piece of material,fold it down the center in a lengthwise direction, place a thread orwire down the interior of the fold, draw the ends of the thread togetherupon themselves on the exterior side of the fold, and fasten the ends ofthe thread together to form a small circle of thread with the materialbunched together on it at the foldline and fanning out radially aboveand below the thread circle. To carry out this method, a flat surfacewas needed which was at least as long as the material to be gathered, sothat the centerline fold could readily be made. The fold was often madeby ironing. Thus, surfaces as large as 6 feet were often necessary.This, of course, was a substantial disadvantage. Also, placing thethread or wire down the interior of the fold was a time-consumingprocess. Probably the most important disadvantage, however, was that, ifthe thread or wire were not drawn together with the utmost patience andcare, the material would bunch together unevenly and a very sloppy anduneven rufile or pompon would result. These difficulties havediscouraged many handicrafters from attempting projects requiring suchrufiles, pompons, or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, thus, an object of this invention toprovide a novel device and method for the making of ruffles, tufts,pompons, or other handicraft novelties, centerpieces or the like, whichare characterized by a high degree of utility, simplicity of design,ease of manufacture, and speed of operation. It is a further object ofthis invention to provide a device and a method for making rufiles whichdoes not require locating the centerline of, or ironing, the material tobe ruffled, which consistently gives uniform, regular, neat appearingruffles, and which is capable of forming ruffles of a wide variety ofsizes. It is another object of this invention to provide a device and amethod for making rufiles which does not require an extensive worksurface. Further objects will be manifest from the drawings,specification and claims.

One embodiment of this invention is a rufiling tool having a handle withan elongate gathering portion on one end and a wire-retaining apertureor eye on the other end. The invention also includes a method forrufiling, comprising folding the material to be ruffled over therufiling tool, gathering the material together on the gathering portionof the tool, retaining the gathered material in its gathered condition,pulling the tool out of the fully gathered material so that the wireconnected to the wire-retaining eye of the rufiling tool passes throughthe gathered material, pulling the wire through the material until thewire is about 1 inch from the end, twisting the ends of the wiretogether to form the desired rufile, cutting off the excess wire, andreleasing the gathered material to form the desired ruffle or the like.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of arufiling tool of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the rufiling tool of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial front elevational view of the rufilingtool of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are perspective views of the ruffling tool of FIG. 1showing its use in forming a rufile.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an open ruffle.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a closed ruffle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A rufiling tool 10 of thisinvention is disclosed in FIGS. 1-4 of the drawing. The tool 10 is agenerally elongate circular rod, having a gathering portion 12 at oneend thereof, an aperture or eye 14 at the other end thereof, and ahandle 16 disposed intermediate the gathering portion and the eye. Thetool 10 is preferably a unitary construction, and may be comprised of asingle piece of molded plastic. It should have a relatively smoothsurface with no sharp comers or projections on which the material to berufiled might be snagged. Its dimensions may vary, but an overall lengthof 8 inches with a gathering portion 4 inches in length and one-quarterinch wide is desirable. A tool of this size may be used to make rufflesfrom material up to 72 inches in length.

The end 18 of the gathering portion 12 is rounded and smooth so that thematerial to be ruffled may easily be slid over the end. The other end 20of the gatheringportion 12 is slightly flared so that it smoothlyconnects to handle 16 which has a diameter of approximatelythree-eighths inch, slightly greater than the diameter of the gatheringportion. Handle 16 includes recessed area 22 and 24 on opposite sidesthereof to make it easier to hold the tool.

Eye 14 is adapted to firmly retain a length of ordinary wire,cloth-covered wire, or heavy thread during the milling process. The eyeI4 should be so formed that the wire or thread may be easily threadedthrough it and removed from it. The eye 14 includes shoulders 26 and 28disposed on jam walls 34 and 36, all of which are located between walls30 and 32 of the eye. To thread the tool, the wire or thread is insertedthrough the eye and both ends are pulled away from the tool, the wirebeing guided between jam walls 34 and 36 by shoulders 26 and 28. Jamwalls 34 and 36 should be sufficiently close together so that they willfirmly retain the inserted wire or thread.

The method of this invention is shown in FIGS. 4-8. The method is usedto produce ruffles, pompons, tufts, or other forms used for makingdecorations, toys, or other articles. The ruffles and other decorativeforms may be made from a variety of flexible materials in sheet form,such as nylon net, gauze, lace, crepe paper, or tissue. Nylon net is thepreferred material in the method of this invention. The material usedgenerally has a rectangular shape with dimensions of from 2 to l8 inchesin width and from 2 to 6 feet in length.

To practice the method, a stiff wire or heavy thread, but preferably acloth-covered wire, 38 is inserted through eye 14 and pulled between jamwalls 34 and 36 so that the two ends are exposed for use, a short end ofapproximately 1 to 2 inches and a longer end of indeterminate length,preferably ranging from at least 6 inches to a yard. The tool 10 is thengrasped between the palm and first three fingers of a first hand 35,normally the left hand for right-handed persons. One end of the material39 to be ruffled is folded over the tool 10 in the short direction toform a bight, and the overhanging edges are evenly aligned. The part 40of the material which is not folded over the tool is allowed to hangloosely. The material is held in place on the tool 10 by the indexfinger and thumb of the first hand 35 as shown. The second hand 37 thengathers or bunches all the material 39 together on the gathering portion12. This is done by placing the edges of the material just off the endof the gathering tool together and then pulling the material toward thefirst hand 35 and onto the tool 10. The first hand 35 holds all thematerial previously gathered on the tool. This process is repeated untilall the material is on the tool. 1

When all the material is on the tool, the second hand 37 grasps itslower portions and holds it together. The first hand 35 is then used topull the tool and the long end of wire or thread 38 through the gatheredmaterial, as shown in FIG. 7,

until approximately 1 inch of wire remains extending from the back sideof the gathered material 39. The tool is then released, the wire removedtherefrom, and the first hand 35 pulls together the ends of the wire 38extending from the gathered material (FIG. 8). The thumb and indexfinger of the hand 37 holding the gathered material 39 then pinch thetop portion of the gathered material 39 together so that the ends of thewire 38 come together, the one inch end coming over the longer endattached to the tool. The two ends of the wire 38 are then twistedtogether close to the ruffle-usually about two twists of the wire issufficient-and the excess wire is cut off. The second hand 37 thenreleases the gathered material 38 which pops or springs open to form acompleted, open" rufi'le or pompon 50 (FIG. 9). The open ruffle 50remains in this condition until attached to a frame. When it is to be soattached, the wire 38 is untwisted and then retwisted about the frame53, and, as shown in FIG. 10, the edges of the rufile are joined at 51so that the ruffle 50 is closed.

The frame 53 is shown in cross section in FIG. 10 and the wire 38twisted about the frame 53 is shown therein in dotted lines. The frame53 can be constructed of a thin metal or wooden rod about one-eighthinch in diameter. The center 52 of the closed ruffle 50 is evenlygathered, which thereby affords an even ruffle.

With some experience, the above-described process should take only toseconds. The completed ruffle is usually combined on a frame or frameswith other rufi'les of different sizes or colors or other decorativeitems to form a finished piece.

It will thus be seen that a ruffling tool and method have been providedwhich fulfill all the above-mentioned objects. It will be obvious thatcertain modifications of the specific embodiment shown may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. Thus, theprecise design of the described tool is subject to variation, forexample, the tool may be made in different dimensions in order to makeruffles of generally larger or smaller sizes. These modifications, aswell as the specific embodiment above-described, are intended to becovered in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A process of forming a ruffle and the like from an elongate sheet offlexible material and from fastening means and using an elongatedmaterial support means capable of being grasped by hand and having meansfor temporarily retaining fastening means, said process comprising:

a. attaching said fastening means to one end of said material supportmeans;

b. placing said material on said elongated material support means,longitudinally folding said material over said material support means soas to form a bight and gathering together said material thereon;

c. grasping said gathered material so that it will remain gathered;

d. passing said material support means and said fastening means throughthe gathered material so that said fastening means extends entirelythrough the gathered material and a portion of said fastening meansextends from the gathered material;

e. removing said fastening means from said material support means;

f. fastening the ends of said fastening means together so as to retainsaid material in its gathered condition;

g. removing the excess length from said fastening means;

and

h. releasing said gathered material to form said ruffle.

2. The process of claim 1 in which the fastening means is wire.

1. A process of forming a ruffle and the like from an elongate sheet offlexible material and from fastening means and using an elongatedmaterial support means capable of being grasped by hand and having meansfor temporarily retaining fastening means, said process comprising: a.attaching said fastening means to one end of said material supportmeans; b. placing said material on said elongated material supportmeans, longitudinally folding said material over said material supportmeans so as to form a bight and gathering together said materialthereon; c. grasping said gathered material so that it will remaingathered; d. passing said material support means and said fasteningmeans through the gathered material so that said fastening means extendsentirely through the gathered material and a portion of said fasteningmeans extends from the gathered material; e. removing said fasteningmeans from said material support means; f. fastening the ends of saidfastening means together so as to retain said material in its gatheredcondition; g. removing the excess length from said fastening means; andh. releasing said gathered material to form said ruffle.
 2. The processof claim 1 in which the fastening means is wire.